FTSE 100 movers: Entain surges on update; Burberry out of fashion

(Sharecast News) - London's FTSE 100 was up 1% at 8,263.82 in afternoon trade on Monday. Ladbrokes owner Entain surged to the top of the index after it said online net gaming revenue growth during the second half to date has been ahead of its expectations.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "The spike in the price comes as something of a relief given that the shares have fallen by 45% over the last year, largely driven by regulatory threat and emerging competition in the US."

Flutter Entertainment also gained.

Burberry Group was under the cosh as Barclays downgraded the shares to 'underweight' from 'equalweight' and slashed the price target to 540p from 820p on structural concerns related to China.

Barclays analysts said that having spent two weeks travelling across Greater China, where they met over 60 industry stakeholders, they have returned "incrementally more cautious on the sector, as China now looks weaker for longer on structural issues".

The bank said the macro environment deteriorated further in the summer and there is now a clear view that the Chinese weakness is structural and not just cyclical.

"On luxury goods, this translates into negative summer sales in Mainland China (up to circa 50% decline) and to clients being more and more selective."

Barclays said that in this "very polarised environment", brands under transition are more at risk, hence the downgrade.

The bank said that despite already being one of the worst-performing names in its space, it still sees downside for Burberry as it has concerns about the company's ability to remain a high-end luxury brand in line with its coverage "considering its lack of disciplined full-price strategy".

"Burberry looks likely to turn loss-making for the first time in H1-25 and considering that we expect the environment to remain tough next year, it could be difficult to see margin recovery in the short term," it said.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Entain (ENT) 686.60p 7.38% Melrose Industries (MRO) 468.80p 3.42% Flutter Entertainment (DI) (FLTR) 16,550.00p 3.21% Diploma (DPLM) 4,424.00p 2.93% Croda International (CRDA) 3,974.00p 2.74% JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 137.20p 2.69% Whitbread (WTB) 3,057.00p 2.45% Experian (EXPN) 3,689.00p 2.36% Airtel Africa (AAF) 114.70p 2.23% Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 472.40p 2.10%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Burberry Group (BRBY) 576.40p -4.63% Land Securities Group (LAND) 649.50p -1.14% CRH (CDI) (CRH) 6,358.00p -1.06% Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,181.00p -1.04% Pearson (PSON) 1,065.00p -0.79% Unite Group (UTG) 949.00p -0.73% Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT) 4,507.00p -0.68% Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 4,931.00p -0.62% AstraZeneca (AZN) 12,590.00p -0.47% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 1,948.00p -0.41%